Focus on Life: week one the self-portrait

Today I saw many a beautiful woman online and wondered on the coincidence.  Sure enough, once Averleigh was in bed and I was reading words the whole way through I saw that the sudden rush to self-portrait was prompted by Sally Russick of the Studio Sublime.  The concept is simple.  Once a week Sally sends out a photo prompt and you have that week to focus in and capture, then share.  I admit when it finally dawned on me what was going down I thought, “ah well, too late”.   But her kind invitation to jump in at any time had me emailing right away.

Now I just got my camera and have really no idea how to use it and this was a great excuse to just tuck right in.  Hubby had just gone to bed so no chance for vanity.  I just sat myself down in the space I just cleared the Christmas tree from (the rest of the room is covered in toys) – and I got to snapping.



It was a tough task.  I deleted so many right off the bat.  Then I stopped myself and decided they should all at least reach the computer to be seen properly.  I took a breathe and picked what I liked the most as opposed to just avoiding all the ones I didn’t.  No edit, no crop, no need to focus on the negative.  I picked this one for that swoop of shadow over my left eye, almost as if those are lashes.  Now that would be a treat!

I’m glad I took the jump.  I look forward to sharing my photography progress here each week.  I know I will be equally excited to see what everyone else has to share.  Be sure to catch all the participants each week from Sally’s post.

A wire, a word and a window

a wire.  Well, a lot of wire is in my future.  Supplies and tools have started to arrive and I’m very excited to join a bunch of excited ladies for the Aspire to Wire e-course starting next week.
a word.  Ok blogosphere I hear you.  A single word to hang the upcoming year upon.  Oh the pressure.  The mere mention of  “SMART” goals kinda makes me wrinkle up my nose and shift my weight in the chair.  Writing goals down?  Hmm, maybe it’s time to give it a try.  Deep breath.

1 – It’s really fun to write a blog knowing that there are folks reading it.  Followers I can and can’t see (directly) are a wonderful thing.  Thank you so so much for coming here and chatting with me!  Ready for it? GOAL – 300 followers by end of year.  Measureable and I hope achievable.
2 – I would also love to see my etsy shop full of a variety of shapes, colours and loveliness.  I know that when I land in a shop I love to have at least a handful of pages to browse through and get a taste.  GOAL – a shop full of 150 listings by end of year.  That sounds a little safe, perhaps a stretch of 200 (eek).

Baby steps.  So how do I reach those goals?  Let’s make that the job of the word for 2013.  Ready? (said more to me than you).  MANIFEST.  The verb, that is.  I’m going to sum that up as I’m gonna make stuff happen.

a window.  The part you would see is 58mm across.  Really though, it’s so much bigger than that.  Today I decided that I was going to have enough confidence in what I have to share to show it to you with the most powerful tool I could wrap my hands around.  Ta-da!



My new DSLR, lenses and cute sling bag that doesn’t look like a camera bag at all  (no sense in attracting thieves).  Thank goodness for Frank, the thoughtful salesman at the camera store who listened intently to my pointed questions comparing several models...for two hours.  Notice there is no goal above about better photographs.  Just giving myself the time and space to learn.  I think it’s going to be a fun ride!